Many governments do not recognize software development as an engineering discipline, and do not treat it (i.e. licensing, regulation) as such.

There was a video game written about this scenario... 38 years ago!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bureaucracy_(video_game)

This is my fantasy to create computer games to simulate life absurdities.

My blood pressure just went up.

Papers, Please!

This coming Friday (September 5th) is one! Woo!

"What happens if I am distributing the runtime for commercial purposes?

According to our terms of service, the distribution of the Unity runtime for commercial purposes by Industry Customers requires explicit authorization from Unity and is subject to a fee ("Distribution License') which is generally equivalent to 4.0% of the revenue generated by the software product that incorporates the Unity runtime (discounts may apply). Please contact sales to discuss further."

For folks who didn't make the move to Godot the LAST time Unity pulled this, there's Godot... (not saying that move is easy for everyone, but am just sayin'...)

This shows once again that Unity is an unreliable option for new projects. The worst part is not the 4% fee, but the bluntness with which Unity has administered these changes. They show that any terms can change at any moment.

If the US can do it, why can't everyone else

Godot is entirely unsuitable for the types of non-gaming commercial applications subject to this license (which has been around for over a decade in similar form).

Also...a 4% license for the underlying platform upon which your product is based is relatively cheap by historical standards. The numbers used to be well into the double digits.

What about Godot makes it unsuitable?

What makes Unity suitable that can't be done with Godot? That might be an opportunity for someone to build it.

Their CEO is trash, eff Perplexity.

100% this. Really trippy abstraction path over time. Reminds me of how Picasso's style evolved over his career (his early output is amazingly realistic, but his style shifted over time to inform his much-better-known abstract works later in his life).

Mondrian has an interesting path from trees to straight lines and basic colours.

That'd be great if they could. We started using Arista 5 or 6 years ago at a small startup I was working for because Arista was the only vendor we could find who was comfortable giving us such an amazing amount of access to the inner workings of their high speed switches. Really enjoyed working with their gear and, when the occasional question came up, their engineers (top notch folks).